The Man Who Could Topple Benjamin Netanyahu

The year is 2019 and, after almost a full term in office, Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government of right-wing and religious parties heads to a general election. Opposing him is a former IDF chief of staff heading a new centrist party which quickly soars in the polls, making him the main challenger for prime minister.

That challenger was Benny Gantz. Gantz formed alliances, fought elections and got caught up in the paralysis of Israel’s 2019-20 governing crisis in which nobody was able to form a coalition. Facing the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, Gantz agreed to a deal with Netanyahu where they’d take turns at being prime minister – with Netanyahu going first, of course. Nobody except Gantz believed his turn would come.

It is August 2026 now and, after a full term in office, Netanyahu’s coalition government of right-wing and religious parties is heading to a general election. Opposing him is a former IDF chief of staff leading a new centrist party as the main challenger for prime minister. It’s a cliché to say this time it’s different. It’s always different. But Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s main electoral rival, has a compelling background, a moving personal story and is now leading the polls.

Outside of Israel, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the only ethnic divide that matters is between Jews and Arabs. Within Israeli Jewish society, though, the most significant distinction is between Ashkenazim, Jews of European origin, and Mizrachim, Jews from Arab and Muslim countries.

Historically, the local Jews in the region were Arabic-speakers who initially resented the poor, low-status European Ashkenazi immigrants of the early 20th century. When a huge wave of Jewish immigrants from Arab countries arrived in the late 1950s, fleeing anti-Semitism at home, they were often shunted into transit camps and treated as second-class citizens.

This divide carried over into politics too. David Ben-Gurion’s Labor party became associated with Ashkenazi cronyism, low-level corruption and background racism. Menachem Begin rode to victory for Likud in 1977 with masses of working-class Mizrachi voters.

Since then, Mizrachi identity has become associated with authenticity, tradition and supporting right-wing parties, while Likud figures attack “white” Ashkenazi left-wing elitists. Mizrachi culture, food and music have gone from being marginal to the Israeli mainstream. But Israel has never had a prime minister who wasn’t Ashkenazi. Despite his Germanic-sounding last name, Eisenkot is Mizrachi, the son of working-class Moroccan immigrants; a marked contrast from Netanyahu, the nepo-baby son of a politically connected Ashkenazi college professor. Eisenkot joined the traditionally Mizrachi Golani Brigade when he was drafted into the IDF, where he rose through the ranks. (According to the British historian Max Hastings, a young Netanyahu once joked that Golani was “OK as long as they’re led by white officers.” Netanyahu denies this.)

Eisenkot became commander of Golani and then military secretary to prime ministers Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon – both former generals themselves. He became something of a problem-solver, a safe pair of hands: he led the IDF’s response to West Bank terrorism during the Second Intifada and then took over Northern Command to reshape it after the failures of the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

When a scandal created an unexpected vacancy for IDF chief of staff in 2011, Netanyahu reportedly offered the job to Eisenkot; he refused, saying that the deputy chief of staff, Benny Gantz, should get the role instead. Eisenkot became Gantz’s deputy and eventual successor.

The path from chief of staff to politics is well-trodden. Six of Eisenkot’s seven immediate predecessors made the jump from uniform to the Knesset. As soon as he retired, the major parties started to court Eisenkot as a candidate. He ended up going with his old boss, Benny Gantz, running in the 2022 election on his National Unity ticket.

National Unity didn’t have a great election, and neither did the rest of the anti-Netanyahu parties. Bibi returned to office and Eisenkot joined the opposition. That all changed after the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. In an effort to live up to its party name, National Unity joined the coalition and Eisenkot and Gantz became members of a six-person war cabinet.

A few weeks later, tragedy struck. Eisenkot’s son Gal was killed in a tunnel in Gaza during a mission to retrieve the bodies of hostages. Eisenkot and Gantz became increasingly frustrated with the war cabinet’s refusal to make plans and eventually resigned, accusing Netanyahu of allowing “outside considerations and politics” to interfere with the conduct of the war with Hamas. But Eisenkot also lost patience with Gantz, his party leader, and resigned from the Knesset a year ago, making it clear he was planning a comeback at the election later this year.

A few months ago, the leading opposition candidate to replace Netanyahu was Naftali Bennett, who was briefly prime minister a few years ago at the head of a short-lived rainbow coalition.

Eisenkot faced pressure to join up with Bennett or another centrist challenger, such as Yair Lapid. In the end, Bennett and Lapid joined forces, leaving Eisenkot out. That decision doesn’t seem to have harmed him at all. Going it alone, Eisenkot’s Yashar (“straight,” in the moral, not sexual, sense) party is now leading in the polls.

But what does Gadi Eisenkot stand for? That’s not such a simple question. His campaign focuses on his story and character: working-class Mizrachi boy made good, bereaved father of a fallen hero, honest and against corruption, security-conscious but focused on solutions.

A major issue roiling Israel has been military service by Haredim, ultra-Orthodox Jewish men. Since their service exemption was struck down by the Supreme Court, the Netanyahu government has been desperately legislating to appease its Haredi coalition partners, passing giveaway legislation to try to restore the exemption and “compensate” them with policy benefits and wodges of public cash.

Eisenkot, like most of the country, supports the Haredi draft. And yet, the Haredi parties aren’t ruling him out as a coalition partner; Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, spiritual leader of the Shas party, declared that Netanyahu will never “repent” and become an observant Jew, but that he still has hope for Eisenkot. Perhaps the Haredi parties are bluffing, seeking more leverage with Netanyahu. Or perhaps they can tell which way the wind is blowing and don’t want to be locked out of power.

The Yashar party, and Eisenkot, are notably vague on the Palestinian issue. He says now isn’t the time to discuss the two-state solution, opposes annexing the West Bank and wants a Palestinian-run (but Hamas-free) Gaza. All fairly mainstream positions, but perhaps lacking in vision: in opposition, it’s easy to wave away questions about a Palestinian state as a future problem; a leader is supposed to move the country toward that future.

And that’s a bit of a theme with Yashar. The party platform hits all the usual notes – education, fighting crime, cutting corruption, lowering prices – but there’s little in the way of structural reforms or ambitious plans.

We get some hints from Eisenkot’s approach to military strategy. On the one hand, he was one of the pioneers of the Dahiya Doctrine, which supports the use of massive force against civilian neighborhoods that play host to terror groups. On the other, he developed the IDF’s “Campaigns between wars” strategy, using constant low-level military operations to keep foes deterred or, failing that, degraded. These suggest an approach of trying to manage continual conflict, combined with a readiness to hit hard when necessary.

The attacks against Eisenkot from the right fit a familiar pattern. Netanyahu and his supporters claim he’s a gruff, uncharismatic novice, with poor English and no charm. They say that he, too, will betray his voters to the Haredi parties, so why not stick with the devil you know?

Those attacks, though, cut both ways. Voters might be done with polished, charming candidates like Netanyahu, and be drawn to Eisenkot’s humble origins. The Haredi claim also neuters one of the other charges against Eisenkot: that he’s a far-left plant who’ll rush to do a deal with the Arab parties. Something about Eisenkot’s background and style has created a permission structure for center-right voters to feel like he’s “safe” to support.

Much like Donald Trump in the United States, Netanyahu has reshaped politics around himself. To support Netanyahu is to be right-wing; to oppose him, even ostensibly from the right, is often enough to be considered a leftist traitor. Beyond left and right, the two major political camps in Israel are “Only Bibi!” and “Anyone but Bibi!”

The “Anyone but Bibi!” camp has had an array of leaders: Isaac Herzog, the son of a one-time president of Israel who ended up in the top job himself (with Netanyahu’s support); Yair Lapid, the media-star son of a Knesset member; Bennett, a multimillionaire startup founder; and Gantz. All men, all Ashkenazi, all somewhat well-connected. Two ended up prime minister, albeit briefly, but Netanyahu found his way back.

This time it’s different, and not just because of Eisenkot. Netanyahu will be 77 on election day, 82 at the end of his term if he’s reelected. He has a pacemaker and secretly underwent treatment for prostate cancer last year. And, of course, he’s the sole political survivor of the October 7 disaster. If Netanyahu loses this time, he’s probably not coming back.

And Likud’s other elected representatives, however much they back Bibi in public, are getting tired of waiting for a vacancy at the top.

On October 27, the voters will have their say. But in Israel, that isn’t the final word; an election triggers months of deals, threats, bribes and horse-trading to win over enough Knesset members to form a government. These weeks are where Netanyahu’s wheeler-dealing often gives him the edge. In the past few weeks, though, the polls have shifted ever so slightly in Eisenkot’s favor, giving him the easier-looking path to power.

David Bitan, an outspoken Likud representative, complained to the media that it’s unfair. Eisenkot, he said, is “both a bereaved family and Moroccan – and that gives him a very interesting advantage in these elections.” He might be right.

Eisenkot gives me Ariel Sharon and Ehud Barak vibes. Ex-IDF generals can never be trusted. They always lurch hard-left and hand Jewish land to the the Arab colonizers. Sharon dragged every Jew out of Gaza and paved the way for Hamas. Barak tried to give nearly all of Jerusalem to the goat-f**kers, but Arafat was too scared of being assassinated to even sign a deal that handed him 99.9% of his goals. I can see this guy sending troops in to cleanse Judea and Samaria towns of Jews.

Netanyahu has dominated Israeli politics for 30 years and has done a great job of leading and protecting the country most of the time. I am a big fan of his. But every politician has his/her day and as the saying goes, every politician ends his/her career in defeat. Look at Chuck Schumer in the US. At one point, he was a feared leader who no one crossed. Now he is a laughingstock who no one respects. Netanyahu has become a liability to Israel and Likud. He has just built up too much baggage. He should transition leadership of the party to a new generation and bow out gracefully or he will go down in flames.

“”Yes, but what happened on October 7 was a catastrophic failure of intelligence…””

***

Failures of intelligence happen... but that does not mean that the leader of that nation is at fault. Bibi has been struggling with the exact ‘same’ type of failures as we’ve had in the US... some of which are quite deliberate. Israel has a Deep State/enemy within, as well.

Look at all of the “failures of intelligence” that have happened on Trump’s watch. Would you blame Trump for them? Nevermind. I think I know the answer to that question.

So was Pearl Harbor for us! As was the Chinese crossing the Yalu in Korea and 68 Tet offensive in Vietnam!

Intelligence collection and subsequent analysis is educated guesswork even in the most efficient services. It’s only mathematically exact in movies and on TV! It’s spy fiction to think the Israelis are all seeing and all knowing in the region. I am not diminishing laziness, complacency nor incompetence in the Israeli services. That could have played a part maybe the whole part. All organizations have such people and such problems to a greater or lesser extent.

An AI summary:

The article argues that retired Israeli general **Gadi Eisenkot** has emerged as the strongest challenger to Prime Minister **Benjamin Netanyahu** in the 2026 election, drawing comparisons to Benny Gantz’s failed challenge in 2019 while suggesting that this race may genuinely be different. Eisenkot, a former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and son of working-class Moroccan Jewish immigrants, offers a contrast to Netanyahu both politically and personally. The author emphasizes that Israel’s often-overlooked divide between Ashkenazi Jews of European origin and Mizrachi Jews from Middle Eastern and North African countries remains politically significant, and Eisenkot’s Mizrachi background, military career, reputation for competence, and image as an honest outsider could broaden his appeal among voters who have traditionally supported Likud. His personal tragedy—the death of his son during the Gaza war after the October 7 Hamas attacks—has also shaped his public image as a respected and bereaved military leader. While Eisenkot supports mandatory military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews and advocates pragmatic security policies, his platform is portrayed as relatively vague on major long-term issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, emphasizing integrity, affordability, education, and reducing corruption more than sweeping reforms. The article suggests that Netanyahu’s political dominance has polarized Israeli politics into camps of “Only Bibi” versus “Anyone but Bibi,” but argues that Eisenkot’s background and moderate image may give center-right voters permission to support an alternative without feeling they are embracing the political left. At the same time, Netanyahu’s age, health concerns, and the lingering political consequences of the October 7 attacks have created a sense that this election could mark the end of his long political era. Even if Eisenkot wins the popular mandate, however, the article notes that Israel’s coalition system means the real battle begins after election day, when negotiations among parties determine who can assemble a governing majority, an arena in which Netanyahu has historically excelled. The author concludes that recent polling has shifted modestly in Eisenkot’s favor, making him the first challenger in years who appears to have a realistic path to replacing Netanyahu, though the outcome will ultimately depend as much on coalition-building as on the election itself.

Interesting how complexion shades dictate social standing in many cultures. The caste system in India has its origin in complexion. The lighter the skin, the higher the caste. Darked skinned Laotians and Cambodians are dismissed by many other Asians. Note the Saudi royal family is essentially white compared to the Arab masses. True in Turkey and Syria as well.Russians denigrated the non Russian Soviet states. The prejudice was open.It is almost very customary throughout South America. Not surprised that at the core of Israeli society its the same.

Ariel Sharon’s fate was very interesting to witness. And that vile brute Ehud Barak agreed to everything that reprobate ‘purple rage’ man-child Bill Clinton asked for regarding dividing Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

Benny Gantz is a compromiser. A ‘go along to get along’ sort. This is not the kind of leader Israel needs after October 7th 2023.

We do know Israel will have leaders at some point in the future who are willing to do this. Part the land as warned about in Joel 3:2.

Then will follow after, the most dangerous and evil time in Israel’s 3000 year history, and yes there is a lot of difficult history to compare it too.

Jesus said:
“For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be” - Mark 13:19

The time of Jacobs Trouble.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.